


Stress Relief

by fanaticismrestrained



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 07:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3479450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanaticismrestrained/pseuds/fanaticismrestrained
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darkleer has difficulty coping with crowds - the Summoner has difficulty taking time off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a gift for a roleplay partner who's quite the fan of pale romance. My personal opinions on Mindfang and her and Summoner's relationship are relevant to the 'plot', though not too deeply explored - since she doesn't make an appearance, I didn't tag her or the ship.

How did the Summoner get anything done at these meetings? 

It felt like everyone was talking all at once.

That wasn’t the truth, though. It was only a few whispers in the back of the room, just a bit farther ahead of where Darkleer was sitting. It wasn’t a true strategy meeting, more of Summoner’s attempt to get some of the grunts and recruits up to speed on what the plan was. Summoner’s rebellion had a foundation on transparency and understanding, and this sort of meeting was one of the rebellion’s cornerstones.

It was the first meeting of this kind that Darkleer had attended. Normally, he elected to stay at his hive, keeping in exile save for when Mindfang, the Summoner, or one of their lieutenants came. However, the Summoner had reasoned that there was no purpose in Darkleer hiding away for the rest of his life.

To Darkleer, it was a reasonable argument.

He hadn’t expected everything to be so... noisy. It had been centuries since Darkleer had been in the presence of more than a few people at a time, and those people tended to wait their turn to speak.

These fools, though... he could hear no less than three separate conversations being held in the back, while the Summoner tried to cover a variety of topics up front. One was gossip about who was filling which quadrants in the army – what a bunch of frivolous nonsense. Two men should not be discussing others’ love lives. Another discussion was about food. The third, however.

The third was about the Summoner.

The Summoner and him, specifically.

“Yeah, I’ve heard the rumors too. Can’t see why he’s gotta go after two coldbloods. You’d think one’d make him traitor enough.” That really got Darkleer’s attention. The surrounding background noise had already been causing him intense frustration. He didn’t realize that his leg was jittering uncontrollably, eyes closed so he could focus on listening in.

How dare they.

“I mean, I can see where he’s going with his mate. She’s damn fine – probably’d kill you soon as look at you though. Never seen his moirail. Heard some shit about him too.” 

“I heard he was some kind of nutcase. He was such an asshole that not even the Grand Highbutt wanted him around. Or he was a criminal who was too hard to kill that they just exiled him or something.” Oh really. Flattering. Too hard to kill defined Mindfang a little bit better than him. 

“Well, I heard from one of the top brass who was told to bring a missive to the guy. Apparently he’s twice as big as a normal troll, barely talks, and has tons of broken shit scattered around his hive. Sounds like the dude’s ridiculously unhinged... I don’t know what the hell the Summoner is thinking.”

This conversation was not going in a good direction. It didn’t take precognition to figure that out. The hapless grunts continued their whispered discussion while Summoner’s explanation at the front continued. “Yeah, you’d figure the leader of a rebellion would avoid fraternizing with the enemy. His mate’s one thing, but this guy? He’s never even given any sort of background on him.” Perhaps these two failed to grasp that it wasn’t any of their bloody business.

“Right. For all we know, this guy could still be one of the Highblood’s goons. What if he’s gonna sell us out? I’d heard he’s been slipping up lately, so either he’s not as good as they say he is, or that highblood boo of his is really screwing with his...” 

At that point, it was getting extremely difficult to notice anything other than the conversation in front of him. Darkleer clutched his left bicep in his hand as hard as he could. He couldn’t go to the Summoner for help – interrupting a leader’s speech was something he’d never consider doing. But these absolutely ignorant fools...

The truly astounding display of disrespect had Darkleer ready to confront the pair. He didn’t realize how tense he was until a loud clapping sound made him jump in his seat, making him able to hear what came next: “Alright, fellas, there’s more to cover but we can get to that later. I think we’re done here. How ‘bout you all clear outta here and rest up? Go stretch, take a whiz, whatever you need.” The Summoner was ending the meeting, it seemed.

Both of the trolls Darkleer was eavesdropping on got up quickly, and were among the first of the trolls to leave the room. They didn’t even notice him as they passed him by, which was likely for the best. If looks could kill, he’d have sent them to their deaths a hundred times over. 

The room cleared quickly, much to Darkleer’s surprise. He didn’t pay attention to anything else until he felt a warm hand on his cheek. It was a familiar sensation. He opened his lips and spoke in a rage-filled whisper: “Summoner...”

He hated that he couldn’t control his temper enough to be more cordial.

The Summoner placed a hand on Darkleer’s jittering leg, stilling it, and placed another on Darkleer’s hand, causing him to release his grip. “Darkleer, doll...” The bronzeblood managed to get into Darkleer’s lap, his hand softly patting his face. “C’mon, take a deep breath for me, alright?”

Darkleer did as he was asked, and as he did so, the Summoner pulled his arm into his lap. He rolled up the sleeves to reveal the slight swelling in his bicep. “Aw, dang... I’m so sorry, Darkleer, I should’ve tried to finish up sooner... I didn’t realize you were grippin’ your arm so hard...” He lightly rubbed the area with the flat of his palm, turning the main focus of his attention to Darkleer. “You wanna tell me why you were getting so angry? Deep breaths first, though.”

Alright. Deep breaths. Darkleer settled into a calmer breathing rhythm, closing his eyes to focus on the warm hands cupping his face. This was calming. It allowed him to sort out his thoughts much better – incoherent yelling was undignified. “Two trolls sitting in front of me. They were insulting you and I. I am used to such insults by now. However... they questioned your skill. Your devotion...”

The Summoner ran his fingers through Darkleer’s hair, the motion calculated to soothe him. “But you know they’re full of shit, right? What two gullible gossips say doesn’t mean anything. I’m not worried about it, okay?”

It wasn’t enough for Darkleer. “I wouldn’t stand for it, Summoner. To think that anyone would be so crass as to think...” Summoner patted his face again, and Darkleer realized his volume had been rising. He inhaled, and exhaled, before opening his mouth. However, before he could say anything, he closed it again.

Concern riddled the Summoner’s face, and he took out a brush and began to run it through Darkleer’s hair. “You know you can tell me anything, right, doll?” His tone was quiet. Reassuring.

Darkleer loved that tone. He loved that voice.

“It’s the noise. I was already getting angry when I first heard them talking. It’s so... loud out here. How can you stand it, Summoner? I can barely hear myself think. I thought listening to Mindfang’s stories were bad, but this...” The bronzeblood laughed, getting out an elastic band from a pocket and looping it around his wrist.

“Hey, hey, Mindfang’s not too bad... her stories are pretty engaging, after all. She’s a real good storyteller.” He started to braid Darkleer’s hair, and the smile on his face helped dispel Darkleer’s anger.

He felt better already.

“I suppose she has a knack for stories. She’s still long winded... and most of her stories are about her. After she tells the story of exploit number one hundred and eight it starts to wear on the nerves a little.” Darkleer shifted a little, leaning forward to give better access to his hair.

Summoner slowly coaxed his hair into a nice, neat braid, before finishing it off with the elastic band. “There we go. Darkleer? Sorry about pushing for you to come. It’s too many people after such a long time alone... how about we try a smaller group, and work upwards from there?”

The idea pleased Darkleer. Fewer voices, and less people, would be easier to get used to. 

Darkleer nodded once, and Summoner smiled at him again. “Alright. By the way, you can leave if you like. You don’t need to stick around. I was... actually thinking of spending the day with you, after this meeting. Are you okay with that?”

What an utterly foolish question. “Of course I am alright with that. I think I’ll get our transport ready... a nice distance from the group, I think.”

Summoner chuckled, having Darkleer tip his head down so he could kiss his forehead. “That sounds great. I really need a break from all this... and I really need to talk to you about something. Something’s been bugging me...”

Darkleer tilted his head in confusion, and the Summoner’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Don’t tell anyone, but my memory’s been all whacked out lately. I’ve been having these weird blank spots... and it’s kinda worrying me.”

It worried Darkleer too. It’d worry anyone. Darkleer closed his arms around the Summoner, hugging him tight. He gave several reassuring pats to Summoner’s back, wary of the wings, and the other gave him several in return. “We will have to discuss this, yes. The privacy of my hive should do the trick...”

“Thanks, doll, I can’t wait to–” He was interrupted by someone knocking loudly on the door to the meeting room. Had he locked it before he’d sat in Darkleer’s lap?

Whoever was outside called out to the Summoner, saying something like, “Sir! We have some reports from the Marquise! Several of her ships have been sunk in a skirmish!”

Darkleer quickly released the Summoner, letting him get up as he replied. “Mindfang? Be right there!” The Summoner patted Darkleer’s shoulder and helped him stand up, keeping his voice low. “Sorry about this, Darkleer... you feeling okay?”

The blueblood gave him a curt nod. He felt better, and was much calmer now. He could get ready for their departure without much trouble. The Summoner patted his face this time, smiling. “Pale for you, Darkleer...”

As the Summoner turned to answer another call from the man outside the room, Darkleer murmured just loud enough for him to hear:

“Pale for you too, Summoner...”


	2. Chapter 2

This was the fourth time today, for heaven’s sakes.

Something needed to be done.

Sleep had found the Summoner sprawled face-down on the table in his war room. Makeshift war room, really. The real things were located at his other hideouts. He had come here, specifically, for a break. To decompress. To talk about his concerns.

He had done neither of those things.

His exhaustion was reasonable – he had spent the last few hours planning out dozens, maybe even hundreds, of potential conflicts and fights. This was despite Darkleer’s constant efforts to get him to take a break. Oddly enough, many of his strategies that night had involved naval warfare. He tended to wait until his matesprit was around to plan those fights out.

“Summoner.”

It wasn’t enough.

“Summoner.”

One more time...

“Summoner!”

The third try was the charm. The Summoner jolted awake, looking around quickly. By some miracle, his horns didn’t knock anything over. It took several seconds for the sleepy troll to register his surroundings, and he managed to calm down a little, looking up at Darkleer with a small grin.

Damn that smile of his. It made it hard to be stern when the situation called for it.

“Hey, doll... didn’t see you there...” He propped himself up, getting back to his current scenario. Darkleer had been studying it while he let Summoner nap a little, and it was the best indicator of how exhausted he was. 

Several short strides brought Darkleer to Summoner’s side, and he looked over the Summoner’s shoulder at the conflict depicted by the Summoner’s paper placeholders. “It would be rather hard to notice me when you are sleeping. You are exhausted. I must insist that you put your strategizing on hold.”

“Exhausted? Nah, I’m fine... I just gotta take a look at another couple of scenarios.” He made an effort to rub the sleep out of his eyes, and Darkleer shook his head. There was absolutely no way he was fine.

The blueblood pointed to several slips of paper the Summoner had positioned around several of his foes. “You told me just tonight that these smaller ships had been sunk under Mindfang’s command. Your strategy here relies entirely on a group of ships that no longer exist – at least, not to a degree where we can use them. This is unlike you.” Darkleer placed a hand on Summoner’s shoulder, gently helping him sit up straight. He had started to lean over as if he was about to sleep again.

It took several seconds for Summoner to register what Darkleer had said, and he reexamined his placement of his troops. A low, frustrated growl left his throat, and he picked them up and crumpled them in his hand. “I can think of something else, I just have to-” He looked up at Darkleer, and the words died in his throat. His body seemed to sag, and he nodded his head. “Maybe you’re right, I just wanted to... I’ll go to sleep...”

Darkleer helped Summoner get up from his chair, and when Summoner proved too tired to walk, he picked the man up, holding him to his front with both arms for support. His hive was too big for someone that exhausted to navigate on his own.

It only took a few minutes to get to the respiteblock that they shared when Summoner was over, and Darkleer took a seat in their pile of plushes. In a bid to try to teach others how to commune with animals, he had developed a way of breeding small animals. It involved a creature impregnating a stuffed plush with a new creature, which the trainees would try to commune with.

It hadn’t quite worked out.

In his boundless optimism, the Summoner had created way too many of the host plushes, and with all the excess, they had made a plenty comfortable pile. Far superior to Darkleer’s pile of broken harps, he had to admit.

Darkleer placed his small companion on his lap, facing away from him. His fingers went to the Summoner’s shoulders, kneading and massaging the muscle. Sweeps of practice had given him unparalleled restraint and control over his muscles, and it allowed him to give Summoner’s tired neck muscles some well-deserved relief. 

As he worked carefully with his hands, Darkleer spoke up, keeping his voice quiet. “Why are you so worried about naval warfare? Mindfang may not be the most careful strategist, but she has plenty of experience.”

With a sigh, Summoner put his head in his hands. “I can’t let her get hurt, you know? I mean, I have to try to figure out better strategies... I don’t want to put her in danger...”

“Perhaps you should re-evaluate your concerns,” Darkleer suggested quietly, considering what he knew about Mindfang. “Mindfang is a highly experienced combatant on the sea. She had rivalries with several powerful naval forces, and each time she came out on top. You won’t have to worry about her.” Darkleer got some of the tense muscles in the Summoner’s neck sorted out, and moved to the shoulders.

Summoner’s rack tended to kill his neck.

“I don’t know, I mean... she said that she was counting on me to make the right decisions...” It was one thing to responsible for the lives of those relatively unconnected to you – it was another thing entirely to be responsible for the life of a loved one. Even so... 

“The right decisions... for her? Or for the rebellion?” An important distinction, to be sure. The Summoner yawned, slumping his shoulders to help Darkleer massage them some.

It took him a while to respond, mulling over the question. “Well... Kinda both? I mean, she’s helping me out, and she’s been deferring to me a bit... Except with the naval warfare, but only because I don’t know as much as she does. I was thinking that, maybe if I took a closer look at the strategizing for that... maybe I could help her more?” He didn’t seem that sure of himself, at least from Darkleer’s point of view.

“I see.” The whole thing smelled of Mindfang’s normal tricks, but it was important that he approach the matter carefully. “It must worry you incredibly, then. If she relies on you so much, that is.”

“Yeah. I mean, she’s so important to me, and she needs me-”

That made Darkleer pause. “Needs you?” He paused again, realizing how that could be taken. “Needs you for what, exactly?”

Summoner yawned again, rolling his shoulders. “Needs me for... she said she needs me to make sure she doesn’t do anything reckless... or put herself in over her head or anything, like, by making sure she’s not placed in too deep in enemy territory...”

“Oh, pardon me, please, I was under the impression that you were mates, not moirails.” He would have none of this shit. Summoner tilted his head, careful not to smack him in the face with his horns. He didn’t quite understand. Darkleer finished kneading out the knots in Summoner’s neck, and then picked the man up to turn him around. The bronzeblood didn’t seem to mind, mentally preoccupied as he was. 

Once the Summoner was placed facing Darkleer, the large man cradled his head in his hands, ensuring he’d face him. “What’re you talkin’ about, hmm?” Summoner attempted to question before Darkleer could continue to speak.

“I should clarify. If Mindfang wanted you to restrain her, she would not have entered a matespritship with you. That is the first thing you should consider. Secondly... even a moirail couldn’t control her. Not if she didn’t want them to.” Darkleer grit his teeth, needing to compose himself. His visitor helped him with that, patting his face gently and letting him get his thoughts together. “The Marquise does what she wants. If she wants to attack, she will attack. If she wants to flee, she will flee. You are not to blame if she gets hurt – if not because you are not her moirail, it would be because she is incorrigible.”

The Summoner sighed, closing his eyes. “But she-”

“None of this ‘But she’ business. She is not your responsibility. Please do not forget that I am a part of this too. I know her capabilities. She controls her own forces. She decides when she engages the enemy. She decides how to engage the enemy. She has always put her own safety first – and she fights battles she knows she will win. Any of her losses are due to her own arrogance.”

Darkleer sighed, gently tilting Summoner’s head down, so that he could kiss his forehead. “You can try to protect her. That is completely reasonable. However, I do not want you to assume her safety is entirely your responsibility. Even the most dedicated quadmate can’t ensure their partner’s safety all of the time. In fact, for someone in your position, it’s even harder. Don’t blame yourself for what happens to her.”

Silence hung in the air then, and Darkleer realized exactly what the problem was. Summoner could barely stay awake. When Summoner opened his eyes again, Darkleer gently kissed his nose again. “We can talk about it later, after we rest. Come now. It is time to sleep.”

The Summoner smiled, lazily leaning in to give Darkleer’s cheek a kiss. “Alright...” 

Darkleer picked him up once more, getting to his feet and moving to the large recuperacoon they shared when he stayed over. Though they both preferred to sleep in the nude, they found it more enjoyable to sleep while still dressed.

That was why Darkleer slid both of them into the recuperacoon without much further ceremony, wrapping himself securely around Summoner. The sopor seeped around them, starting to ooze against their skin. The soporific quickly took effect, and the Summoner fell asleep not long after, clutching at Darkleer’s shirt in his sleep.

It gave Darkleer some time to think on his own as sleepiness began to take him. They needed to talk about this again, when they were both awake. Not only that, but the blank spots in Summoner’s memory were bothering Darkleer. There were also the occasions where Summoner had agreed with Mindfang not long after opposing one of her suggestions...

He didn’t like it. Not in the slightest. He wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt the Summoner.

Nobody would hurt his moirail if he could help it. Never again.


End file.
